Clockwork Daisy

Chapter 6

Deacon

Chapter 6

I wasn't tasting the meatloaf I shoveled into my mouth. Every so often, I'd set my fork down and gulp 2% milk out of a carton. My senses were alert to my surroundings: I heard Madge, Trevor, and my other friend Wes complaining about homework assignments across the lunch table. I squinted my eyes against the flickering cafeteria lights, and I received goosebumps along my arms thanks to the frigid kitchen air. But my mind was still lost helplessly in Ellie's smile. I'd tried to shake the feeling all morning. The moment she entered my thoughts I'd bite my lip until it bled, I'd chew my pencil until it broke, or I'd roll my shoulders until they cracked. But nothing worked. I was turning into a sad, pathetic lover boy like Trevor. Maybe even more so.

"How'd you like the view from Bow's class, Dee?" Trevor suddenly asked, crushing lettuce with his pure white teeth.

"What do you mean?" I was still a little dazed.

Trevor split open a fresh packet of ranch and drizzled it over his soggy salad. "Don't play dumb, dude. I saw you drilling your eyes into Ellie Wells." 

I looked back down at my meatloaf. "I hope she didn't notice."

"I doubt it." Trevor said, a sleazy grin plastered on his face. "She was too busy talking to me."

"More like putting you in your place!" I laughed. "You had the nerve to ask her if she was single!"

"You weren't surprised by Trev doing that, were you?" Madge turned to me, popping an iPod earbud into one of her earlobes. "That's classic Trevor."

I shook my head. "Not surprised, just..."

"Jealous, because you didn't have the guts to talk to her first?" Trevor egged.

"Oh don't be so proud." Wes said, fidgeting with his leather wrist watch. "She probably wasn't very taken with you anyway."

I could tell Trevor was annoyed with all these negative comments being flicked in his direction. His face turned fuchsia. "Are you guys going to ignore that fact that Deacon appears to be just as enthralled with Ellie as I am?"

Wes lightly hit his fist against the faux-wood table. "No, but who said I wasn't?"

"It's just 'new girl syndrom'." Madge concluded, fixing her dark eyes on each of us. "The thought of a new girl at St. Wisteria High gets your testosterone pumping. Your mind fills with sick fantasies and you wonder if she wears any underwear during gym class." None of us denied anything, we just waited for Madge to go on. "But none of those things really matter, because after a few weeks, she won't be new anymore. You'll get over it."

Us three boys leaned back in our flimsy plastic chairs. Trevor sagged his shoulders. "Jesus Madge. Why do you have to be such a boner crusher?"

Madge laughed through her teeth. "Just feeding you the facts, bud."

"Madge," Wes said, sliding his peanut butter sandwich out of a plastic baggie. "Have you even met her yet?"

Madge picked at a split end in her hair. "Who?"

"Seriously?" Wes asked, in disbelief. "The person we've been talking about; Ellie Wells. 

"Not officially." Madge folded her hands on the table top. "But I'm sure the populars will scoop her up in no time. She'll become permanent 'off limits' for guys like you three."

"And I repeat," Trevor paused for dramatic affect. "Boner. Crusher."

"And I repeat," Madge defended herself. "Just feeding you the facts!"

I sensed an incoming bicker between those two, so I paid attention elsewhere. I traced the outlines of the student filled cafeteria. The bodies that balanced skillfully on the un-trustworthy chairs and laid their food on the rarely scrubbed tables. The dark green football jerseys, the skin tight cheer leading uniforms, the relaxed fit jeans, the over sized sweatshirts. My student body surrounded me and it occurred to me that I knew very few of them. I felt like that character in any given book whose name gets mentioned once and then is thrown into oblivion during the rest of the book, bound to be completely forgotten. 

There very well could have been a greater power puppeting me, but all the sudden I was standing up, pushing my lunch chair in, dumping my tray in the overflowing garbage bin, and instead of returning to my table like logic would suggest, I walked straight out of the cafeteria, past the closest bathrooms, and out the back exit of the school. This door was always open a crack during lunch time because school policy allowed for students to eat outside. Unfortunately, this back area was mostly inhabited by cigarette smokers and the occasional small group drug deal. But I didn't mind. I had spent many post-lunch moments in that area my freshman year, just soaking in a few seconds of isolation under the towering maple tree before I had to return to worksheets and glossaries. Trevor, Wes and Madge had never asked where I went after eating, so I'd never told them. Eventually I stopped preforming the routine, but on the first day of sophomore year, I felt I needed something familiar again. 

I was secretly giddy that no one else was in staring distance that particular day. I could tell the lawn had been mowed recently due to the wafting grassy perfume that hung in the air. The minuscule parking lot was empty with chipping parking lines, just as I remembered it. There were some teal blue dumpsters still in their old place as well, and they were even more rusted than they had been the year before, leading me to wonder if they were actually ever used at all. The fat but intimidating maple tree still stood too. I stuffed my hands in my jean pockets and sunk below its leaves, feeling the sudden change of temperature under its shadow. I closed my eyes and took a breath in. Quite loudly, in fact. 

"Are you irratated with school already, too?" The feminine voice startled me, causing my eyes to pop open. I saw no one around me, no one within earshot. My brain pieced together that whoever it was was sitting on the side of the trunk oppisite myself. 

"Beyond irritated." I answered back. "I'm ready for this year to be over."

"Tell me about it." The girl said, sounding relieved someone agreed with her. "Just thinking about nine more months of a stuffed backpack gives me a stomach ache."

"I used to come out here all the time last year." I said, leaning my head against the tree. "It helped take my mind off things like that."

"And it actually helped?" The girl sounded doubtful.

"Yeah." I tried to sound convincing. "And as my mom likes to say, 'It's only school, it's not your life sentence'." 

I got a laugh out of her for that. "I like your mom's philosophy."

It surprised me how easy it was to talk to this complete stranger. I knew the clock was ticking fast and our minutes of lunch hour together were numbered, but our conversation made the world turn alot slower. It wasn't just the tree calming me down, it was her.

Move over, Ellie Wells. I had a new, far more interesting, mystery girl.